A re-release of the second ever episode of Unreal, while I recover from illness. A new episode will come soon once my voice is back at full strength!   Giants sculpted our landscape. They are strong, and fierce, and can be terrifying if you’re unprepared. But anyone can defeat a giant – if you are clever enough to trick them…   READ THE PODCAST SCRIPT   SOURCES AND FURTHER READING The Story of Fionn and the Giant The Giant’s Causeway, Dublin Penny Journal A Legend of Knockmany, by William Carleton (and the original article) Joe Moore’s Story of Finn Macooilly and ..read more

The Banshee is one of Ireland’s most famous folkloric figures. A supernatural woman with a cry that foretells of death and devastation to those who hear it, stories about banshees have been terrifying listeners for hundreds of years. But has she always been this way?   Read the Podcast Script   Sources and Further Reading A Folklore Survey of County Clare by Thomas Johnson Westropp The Triumphs of Turlough translated by Standish Hayes O'Grady The Hostel of Da Choca translated by Whitley Stokes Annals of Loch Cé The Memoirs of Lady Ann Fanshawe Personal Sketches of His Own Times by S ..read more

Hi everyone, Ruth here, and apologies for the slightly sporadic uploads to Unreal this season – I’ve just been having quite a busy time outside of podcasting. I’m actually going to take mid-season break and come back in two weeks with a special Halloween episode, and finish out the second half of the season then, hopefully with more regular uploads for those last few episodes. I hope that sounds ok, and wishing you a folklore-filled few weeks in the meantime. Go n-éirí an bóthar leat ..read more

What happens when a king goes mad? When he leaves his home, his wife and lands, and goes wandering in the woods and the wild? Such a strange frenzy came on Sweeney, an Irish king long ago. The life he came to live was a harsh and a wild one – but, as the story shows, still one where breathtaking beauty could be found . . .  Read the Podcast Script Sources And Further Reading Buile Suibhne. (The frenzy of Suibhne) by O'Keeffe, J. G The King's Mirror Myrddin Wylt Wild Man   Music The Butterfly – Sláinte The Elfin Knight - Traditional I'm Missing Ennis - Philip Ayers Everything ..read more

There once was born a cursed girl. She was beautiful, and strong-willed, and would do anything for the man she loved. But in her name, evil came to Ireland, bringing war and fighting that left hundreds dead in its wake. Her name was Deirdre, and stories told about her live on, as one of Ireland’s most sorrowful legends.   Read the Podcast Script Sonder Magazine Let's Talk About the Arts episode (my story is at about 28:30)   Sources and further Reading Story Sources The Exile of the Sons of Uisliu by Vernam Hull Deirdre, or, The Exile of the Sons of Usnech Deirdre, in The Three S ..read more

For every death, a price must be paid. Life is precious, and blood is costly, and when you take the life of a man, you do not know how high the penalty will be. This is a story about three brothers, and a life they took, the price they paid, and the devastation that followed them to their deaths. Read the podcast script Sources and Further Reading Story Sources The Fate of the Children of Tuireann from The Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language "The Quest of the Sons of Turenn" by T. W. Rolleston "The Fate of the Children of Tuireann" from The Three Sorrows of Storytelling by Doug ..read more

As strange as it is imagine, there are infinite worlds out there in the universe, far beyond our sight. But, if the stories are to be believed, a group of early Irish people came closer than most to contact with the world above our world, and the strange people who inhabited it.   Read the Podcast Script   Sources and Further Reading “Aerial Ships and Underwater Monasteries: The Evolution of a Monastic Marvel” - John Carey “Voyagers in the Vault of Heaven: The Phenomenon of Ships in the Sky in Medieval Ireland and Beyond” - Michael McCaughan “Lightnings VIII” – Seamus Heaney Curiosi ..read more

There is something magical about snow, but it’s also deceptive, and deadly – the perfect ingredient for dark tales on a cold winter’s night . . . Read the Podcast Script Sources Weather Lore Customs, Beliefs and Superstitions of the Different Festivals – Dúchas.ie Weather-Lore – Dúchas.ie Plucking Geese in Heaven – Dúchas.ie Signs of Snow – Dúchas.ie Derbforgaill The Deaths of Lugaid and Derbforgaill – Carl Marstrander Cuchulainn’s Ríastrad: The Cuchullin Saga in Irish Literature – Eleanor Hull Saints St Molasius (Silva Gaedelica, S. H. O’Grady) St Comghan (Mac Dá Cherda and Cummaine Foda ..read more

  Granuaile, Ireland’s Pirate Queen , was ahead of her time but remains with us in legend. Escaping the constraints of femininity, Gráinne risked everything she had to live life she wanted, and rule the seas.       Read the Podcast ScriptSources and Further Reading   Granuaile: Ireland's Pirate Queen by Anne Chambers "Eighteen articles of interrogatory to be answered by Grany ne Malley" (Granuaile in her own words!) Anthologica Hibernica: 1, 2 Folktales from Dúchas.ie Granuaile folk songs from Dúchas.ie   Music The Butterfly - Sláinte Shady Grove - Shake T ..read more

The story of Oisín’s journey to Tír na nÓg with Niamh of the Golden Hair has become one of Ireland’s best-loved legends. But the history of how it came to be told may still surprise you . . . Read the Podcast ScriptSources and Further Reading Lay of Oisín on the Land of Youth by Michael Comyn Sgéalta ó Ṫír Ċonaill by Énrí Ó Muirgheasa (translation at end) Sgéal ar Oisín agus na Fiantaibh (translation at end) The Colloquy with the Ancients translated by Standish H O'Grady Leabhar na Feinne, by J. F. Campbell Celtic Mythology by J. A. MacCulloch Urashima Tarō King Herla   Music The Butte ..read more